We are delighted to announce the shortlist for the Children’s Book Award 2016 shortlist. Among those shortlisted are bestselling children’s author Francesca Simon, last years shortlisted Pamela Butchart, and debut author Kim Slater.

Who will win? Children nationwide are now invited to vote for their favourite of the ten shortlisted books. The category winners and the author of the best children’s book published in the 2015 nomination period will be announced at a glittering awards ceremony which takes place in Central London on Saturday 28th May 2016.

The Children’s Book Award is the only national award for children’s books that is voted for entirely by children. It is owned and coordinated by the Federation of Children’s Book Groups and is highly respected by teachers, parents and librarians. It and has brought acclaim and strong sales to past winners such as J.K. Rowling, Patrick Ness, Andy Stanton, Malorie Blackman, Anthony Horowitz and Michael Morpurgo, who has won a record three times. The award has often been the first to recognise the future stars of children’s fiction and has the ability to turn popular authors into bestsellers.

The full shortlist for the Children’s Book Award 2016 is as follows:

Younger Children

– Fabulous Pie by Gareth Edwards and Guy Parker-Rees (Scholastic)– Is There a Dog in this Book? by Viviane Schwarz (Walker Books)– Ready, Steady, Jump! by Jeanne Willis and Adrian Reynolds (Andersen Press)– This Book Just Ate my Dog! by Richard Byrne (Oxford University Press)

Wendy Gilham, Children’s Book Award coordinator says:‘It is always fascinating to see what the children from the Federation of Children’s Book Groups have enjoyed reading and this year they have chosen a truly great shortlist. It is an exciting combination of favourite authors, characters and the latest debut novels.’

In the next few weeks, we will host guest posts from all shortlisted authors/illustrators. We look forward to welcoming them all on here.

You can follow all CBA news on Twitter with the hashtag #FCBGBookAward16